


The Silence

by cosmicenergy



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Angst, Character Death, F/M, Sorry Not Sorry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:47:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,067
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24366034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cosmicenergy/pseuds/cosmicenergy
Summary: If it’s been said that love finds you when you’re ready, then death must appear when you least expect it.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson
Comments: 10
Kudos: 51





	The Silence

If it’s been said that love finds you when you’re ready, then death must appear when you least expect it.

The two, though, are intertwined. Within love there is loss, and through loss love is able to be born. 

Death is like the uninvited guest to every party, the last present on a wish-list, the swirls of dust that gather under a lively kitchen table. It’s everywhere, tied to everything so closely that it is impossible to exist without it.

Even the immortals, those who run from death and jeer taunts in its face, cannot fully rid themselves of its presence. For in the absence of death, what is the point of living?

-

Percy thought he would be prepared for when it happened, when death waltzed up to his doorstep and knocked loudly. It was a very familiar feeling, really, like that of a hug with an old friend or the first sip of coffee in the morning. He had faced death before, perhaps more times than he could ever count. 

But he refused to run from it. 

Time and time again, he was introduced to Death. Death was whispered in the beads that he wore around his neck, in the sheen of his sword, in the layers of skin that surrounded his Achilles’ heel. It was a part of him, and one that he was unable to shake away.

For Percy, immortality was presented to him on a silver platter, and with that offer came all the blessings and praise and legend that a hero could ever want. When he refused it, saying to the gods that he wouldn’t accept it at all, it was as though Death had filled in the spaces between the silence that stretched across the room. Death was shining in his father’s proud eyes, etched in Athena’s cautious gaze, and written across Hera’s glaring forehead.

Percy didn’t mind it's presence, because seeing those he would be leaving behind, though not now but eventually, made him turn away from the idea of ever wanting it. He couldn’t bear to stay the same, to stop growing and changing and aging while all of his friends and family and Annabeth would continue to do so.

Annabeth. 

If there was ever such a reason to remain mortal, it was her.

There are countless legends and myths of heroes and their star-crossed lovers. Of how the hero becomes immortal and though their love continues on, it is not enough to transcend lifetimes. Love can appear in different ways, and in different people, but it is never the same.

When one is immortal, it is simply impossible for the other half of their soul to reside in a mortal. 

Without Annabeth, there was no Percy. Their souls were etched together by their own hands, stitch by stitch, unable to be torn apart. They had chosen each other time and time again, against all the odds. 

In a thousand lifetimes and a thousand bodies, Percy knows his soul would find hers.

So when death always came knocking, Percy welcomed it with a smile.

-

His vision was blurry, arms were aching and bloody from the days of fighting. Every fiber in his body was screaming, telling him to stop and lay down and never get back up. But they were so close, so very close to the doors that Percy could practically feel them.

Well, he did feel them in a way. Their presence was like a homing signal, calling every kind of monster that Percy could ever think of to their location (and then some, cause gods know he didn’t know them all).

He felt something inside his gut begin to stir, the uneasy feeling gnawing away at the last bit of resolve he was managing to hold together. But he couldn’t stop now, couldn’t give up on their mission.

Couldn’t give up on Annabeth.

Her face was hard as stone, but he could tell she was fighting just as hard as he was. Her ankle was still not fully healed, and he could tell by the way that she walked that it was still causing her more pain. Her arms were torn up with cuts and scrapes from talons and weapons and her hair hadn’t come down from her ponytail in days.

Maybe it was the feeling in his gut talking, or maybe it was the fact that it felt like they were living through the end of the world, but Percy thought she looked beautiful.

He had seen this determination written on her face many times before, how her gaze would harden and eyes would become as sharp as nails. He loved her for it, for how she would never give up even when situations would seem hopeless. He loved her for never giving up on him, and trusting him even when he didn’t trust himself.

He could see the doors now, their daunting stature looming over the hills leading up to them. The entire place was crawling with monsters, all waiting for their turn to try and get inside the elevator to get to the top.

The thought of more monsters reaching their world made him sick.

They had to stop it, they had to put an end to this. Too many good people, innocent people, had died for it to continue any longer. He couldn’t let anyone else die on his behalf.

“Annabeth,” he said, voice barely louder than a whisper. Though the world around them was chaotic and noisy, he knew she would hear him. Her grip on his hand tightened, squeezing ever so slightly on his fingers as if to say, I heard you, I’m here.

Percy cleared his throat, hoping to calm the feeling bubbling in his stomach. The sensation was becoming hard to ignore, which concerned him. Death had never made its presence this clear before. 

“I love you,” he said, voice louder than before. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see her smile ever so slightly. If he hadn’t known her better than he knew himself, he wouldn’t have even noticed it. “But Annabeth, when we get to the doors…”

Her grip on his hand tightened again, cutting him off.

She knew what he was about to say. She knew the plan better than he did, but she just didn’t want him to have to say those words out loud. She knew he was closing the doors, staying here in this place while she would take the ride alone.

She had cried when he suggested the idea, after hours of thinking of plans and possibilities. She sobbed into his chest, feeling his heart beating against her ears and wishing she could keep it that way forever. Beating and safe, right next to her.

Percy had cried too; she could feel his wet tears drip onto her hair, his arms around her tightening as if she was going to disappear that very second. Though she knew he would never admit it, he was scared. And she was too.

She didn’t want to think of life above the surface anymore, especially if Percy wasn’t going to be there. Selfishly, she didn’t know how she was going to be able to survive if he wasn’t right there with her.

Annabeth didn’t know what she would do without his lame jokes or his warm hugs or his surprise kisses in the mornings. He completed her, filled in all the nooks and crannies of her soul that were missing Percy-sized pieces.

She didn’t want to, couldn’t afford to, lose him.

“I know,” was all she said, voice sounding stronger than she had expected it to.

She could feel Percy intertwining their fingers, rubbing his thumb over her’s. 

I love you, she thought, soul aching for another possible way to get them both through the doors. It was futile though, and Annabeth knew it. It was either Annabeth goes through or the entire world is doomed. Though honestly, if it was a world that Percy wasn’t in, she couldn’t give a damn what happened to it.

As they made their way to the doors, Percy could feel Death following them. It followed at a steady pace as if to assure Percy that it’s presence wouldn’t be leaving any time soon.

Percy always knew that the last steps of the journey were always the hardest, but nobody told him how hard it would be to let Annabeth go. His soul ached as they neared the doors, as they both were out of breath and scared and coming to terms with what was about to happen.

He looked at her to find her gaze locked on him, gray eyes clouded with emotions.

“Percy,” she said, reaching out to touch his cheek. He felt himself leaning into her touch, the familiarity of it trickling all the way down into his soul. “I’m proud of you.”

Despite everything, he smiled, allowing himself the pleasure of staring at her, attempting to catch every little detail of her face one last time. 

“I’m proud of you too,” he said after a moment, stepping forward to remove the space that was left between them. “I’m so proud of everything you’re going to accomplish, too.”

He could hear her cry get caught in her throat as she threw her arms around him, and Percy buried his face into her shoulder. 

“I love you,” he managed to say, words getting lost on the way from his soul to his throat. “I can’t wait to love you again.”

Her sobs only got louder, as though the world around them was coming to a halt. 

“I’m never going to stop loving you,” he heard her say into his shirt, pools of water forming underneath her eyes.

He laughed, a sound so foreign to the environment. “Good. Neither am I. Regardless of if I die, or when I die, I’ll just keep loving you. It’s going to take something much stronger than that to stop me.”

She nodded into his chest, clutching him impossibly tighter. His soul was screaming and so was hers, but there was nothing else they could do.

He kissed her lips, soft and gentle just like he did every morning, as if to say we’ll see each other again.

In this world, Percy wasn’t sure of much, but the one thing he was certain about was that he would find her again. He would wait for her again and again and again if it meant just one more kiss, one more friendship, one more lifetime with her.

Before she could protest, and as he could feel the monsters on his back and death reaching out, he pushed her through the doors and pushed the button.

-

The twelve minutes that followed were so long it felt as though time had stopped completely.

For Percy, it might as well have.

He could feel her fading away from him, her soul just out of reach for him to grab onto. As the elevator rose, he could hear the monsters coming for him. He could feel Death approaching him just as slow and steady as it ever had.

He heard the elevator stop before the monsters reached him. He saw the button he was pressing fade away, all brightness and color draining away from him.

Percy did it, they did it.

Annabeth was safe, and that’s all that really mattered.

He felt the monsters claw at his back, ripping him away from the door with such force that it felt like his back was breaking. Thrown to the ground, riptide was flung away from him in mere seconds.

But he didn’t fight it, as the monsters loomed over him, excited over their precious hero. He felt the sword go through his body, his own sword, before he could even register that it was happening. 

He looked down at it’s shiny metal piercing through his heart, and feeling his pulse quicken and then slow. 

Percy knew it was time. 

As the feeling slowly left his body, as he felt his limbs stop moving and become still, Percy closed his eyes. In the darkness that engulfed his vision, he could finally see Death in all its glory, knocking on Percy’s door and waiting for him to step outside and join them.

He thought of Annabeth one last time, how he could still feel her soul wrapped around his, and walked through the door with a smile.

**Author's Note:**

> feel free to find me on tumblr @softpercy!


End file.
